Why Do a PhD?

I am enrolled in a free online course with Future Learn through the University of Leicester to find out if doing a PhD would be a good thing for me.  Currently I am enrolled in a research project at my workplace in the exciting field of applied linguistics in developing oral skills pragmatics in English second language speakers.  The proposal is accepted and I am excited.  It should lead to a published paper, and with that further research possibilities and open doors.

Here are some reasons I may want to consider this challenge:

• to contribute to academic and social scientific discovery and knowledge;
• as a first major step towards a career as an academic or a researcher;
• to build substantially on knowledge already gained from previous study and experience
• to develop and enhance my independent and team-based research skills;
• to make an impact upon social or economic policy and practice;
• to provide a launchpad for entering a related profession;
• to lead innovation in the language teaching field

This is the first entry of my reflective journal on the subject. My project title is: Pedagogic Interventions for Developing Pragmatic Competence in EAL.  You can follow updates on my Research Gate account. 

•          Study Purpose: One way to help learners of English as an additional language (EAL) develop pragmatic competence is to maximally encourage internal talk by putting learners in stories they know, or giving them roles to play a given context. Pragmatic competence is the ability to communicate an intended message with all its nuances in any socio-cultural context, and to interpret the message of an interlocutor as it was intended. Cooperative attending skills is inter-topic interaction among acquaintances, whereas role plays prescribe scripted contexts in which to interact.

•          Hypothesis and Research Questions: Given the instruction students will receive throughout the course, it is assumed that they will be able to speak more meta-cognitively about pragmatic choices and options, propose alternate conversational moves, and produce more nuanced and strategic discourse.  The research question focuses on the student-teacher dance in the classroom, specifically on what the role of the instructor is in developing pragmatics. What sorts of pedagogic interventions and classroom discourse are made possible as EAL learners progress in pragmatic competence? How is this progress manifested? 

Thank you for reading and for your interest. 

Angelina